Smooth surfaced foam laminate and method of making same

ABSTRACT

A laminate material having nonslip characteristics on one surface and a smooth surface on the other side is provided. The material is created by laminating together a smooth film and a plastic foam surrounding a scrim having nonslip characteristics.

This patent application is a continuation of application Ser. No.08/699,804 filed on Aug. 19, 1996, now abandoned and incorporated hereinby reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to sheet material usable by a consumer and moreparticularly to laminate sheet materials having a smooth upper surfaceand a foam body usable as drawer liners, shelf liners, applianceunderlayments and the like.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Consumers use a wide variety of sheet materials in and around the homeas an underlayment and lining material. Decorative papers have been usedfor many years to line drawers and shelves. Some decorative papers areprovided with an adhesive on one side to provide a more permanentlining. Plastic materials, such as polyvinyl chloride, have also beenprovided in sheet form for use by consumers as liners. Some of theseplastic materials are provided as a simple sheet. Other plasticmaterials are provided with an adhesive on one side for a more permanentinstallation. For more than a year, consumers have also been providedwith foam plastic materials for use as liners. These materials providecushioning and are also less prone to slipping. One such materialconsists of a loosely woven fabric scrim with a foam polyvinyl chloridecoating. This material is noncontinuous in that the openings betweenmany of the adjacent scrim fibers remain open after the application ofthe foam. The foam has a nonslip characteristic but is not an adhesive.This material provides good cushioning and nonslip characteristics. Ithas been well received in the consumer marketplace and used widely as alining material and underlayment. Such foam covered scrim sheet materialis commercially available in various sizes. Companies such as GriptexIndustries, Inc. of Alpharetta, Ga. and American Nonslip produce suchmaterials commercially.

All of the above described materials have negative aspects. Paper orplastic nonadhesive shelf lining can slide around on the surface towhich it is applied. In drawers in particular, such linings can becomebunched up and pushed to the rear of the area sought to be protected.Such shelf linings do not provide cushioning or protection for thingsplaced on a shelf or in a drawer. Adhesive paper or plastic shelf linersdo not normally become bunched up or slide when first installed.However, thereafter, portion of the adhesive may dry out allowing thelining to slide and become bunched up. In other situations, the adhesivesticks to the surface under the lining paper even when the lining paperis removed. This can mar a surface and leave an objectionable, sticky,discolored area on a shelf or in a drawer.

On the other hand, foam plastic covered scrim shelf linings have theirown problems. While they do not slide on a shelf or in a drawer and canbe removed, they prevent objects placed on them from sliding. Ahomeowner cannot put a cup on a shelf and slide it along that shelf to adesired position. Rather, it must be picked up and moved. The scrimbased shelf linings are also noncontinuous. They have numerous openingsforming part of the product. The appearance is therefore often not aspleasing to consumers as what can be achieved on a continuous paper orplastic surface.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is the principle object of the invention to provide a shelf liningmaterial overcoming the above referred to negative aspects which isnonslip, nonadhesive and provides a continuous top surface.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a liningmaterial having an upper surface which is pleasing in appearance,colorful and smooth.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a shelflining product which is easily cut with scissors, will maintain itsshape and position, is not adhesive, and has a continuous smooth topsurface.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a laminateproduct comprised of a scrim based plastic foam sheet layer and a thincontinuous smooth surface layer bound thereto.

Further in accordance with the invention, the scrim based foam plasticlayer is of the type commercially available providing nonslipcharacteristics.

Still further in accordance with the invention, the smooth surfaced thincontinuous sheet material is bound to the foam scrim layer by means ofadhesive or thermal binding.

Yet further in accordance with the invention, the smooth sheet layer isbound to the scrim-foam layer by means of an adhesive.

Still further in accordance with the invention, the thin sheet smoothsurfaced layer is a continuous sheet of smooth plastic such as polyvinylchloride.

Yet further in accordance with the invention, the thin sheet smoothmaterial is a plastic material having a coating of pressure sensitiveadhesive thereon which is applied to the scrim foam material providing afinished product.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention may take physical form in certain parts and arrangementsof parts, a preferred embodiment of which will be described in detail inthe specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings whichform a part hereof and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the laminate of the present invention lookingat the bottom side;

FIG. 2 is a cross section of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view of the scrim based material used in theinvention; and,

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a method and apparatus for making thesmooth foam laminate seen in FIGS. 1 and 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the drawings wherein the showings are made for thepurposes of illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention onlyand not for purposes of limiting same, FIGS. 1 and 2 show a laminate 10.The laminate 10 comprises a smooth continuous top layer 12 and anoncontinuous porous foam bottom layer 14. The bottom layer 14 comprisesa loosely woven scrim 16 (FIG. 3) having a rubber or plastic material 18foamed onto the scrim. The threads 22 of the scrim 16 are loosely wovenhaving large apertures 24 between adjacent threads 22. A preferredmaterial has at least some threads spaced at least about 0.05 inchesapart. When the foam material is applied to the scrim, it does not fillin the apertures 24 between adjacent threads 22 but merely form thickerstrings around the scrim threads 22. When cured, the resulting materialhas a nonslip characteristic. This foam plastic covered scrim materialforming the bottom layer 14 is conventional and commercially available.Portions of the foam bottom layer have a thickness of about 0.03 to 0.12inches; preferably 0.05 to 0.1 inches. Thinner or thicker foam coveredscrim layers may also be used.

The top layer 12 is smooth and continuous. In a preferred embodiment,the top layer is a continuous flexible plastic sheet having a thicknessof about 0.004 inches to 0.008 inches and an adhesive backing 26. Thetop layer 12 is much thinner than the bottom layer 14. Textured orsmooth continuous plastic or paper films can be used. In the preferredembodiment, a vinyl plastic film is used.

A method of manufacturing the laminate product 10 is shown in FIG. 4. Afoamed scrim material supply reel 32 is driven to supply scrim material34 (as seen in FIG. 3) at a selected rate. The scrim material 34 passesover and in contact with an adhesive transfer roller 36. The adhesivetransfer roller 36 is rotated so that its periphery has the same speedas the moving scrim material 34. The adhesive transfer roller picks upadhesive 30 from an adhesive supply 38 and transfers the adhesive 30 tothe underside 42 of the scrim material 34.

A sheet material supply reel 44 is driven to supply sheet material 46 ata rate identical to the supply speed of the scrim material 34. The scrimmaterial, covered with adhesive, and the sheet material 46 are pressedtogether in pinch rollers 48. The united material passes through adrying oven 52 and is gathered on a take-up reel 54. In this particulararrangement, the united material passes through the oven 52 with whathas been previously referred to as the "top layer" on the bottom and the"bottom layer" 14 on the top. This allows the united material to besupported on support rollers without undue adhesive transfer.

The adhesive 30 in the adhesive supply 38 is any of the commerciallyavailable laminating adhesives which are often water based. The adhesivein the supply 38 is coated only onto the scrim portions which contactthe transfer roller 36. As the scrim material 34 is discontinuous andhas many openings, the portions of the sheet material 46 which do notcome into contact with scrim material 34 in the pinch roller 48 remainfree of adhesive. Adhesive is only applied where it is needed, at theplace where the scrim material 34 and the sheet material 46 meet oneanother. Because the adhesive contained in the adhesive supply 38 iswater based, the heating oven 52 is kept relatively cool. Its functionis to drive off the moisture in the adhesive. Because the temperature iskept relatively low, stretching and warping of the product is avoided.

A hot melt adhesive could also be used. Such an adhesive would notrequire a drying oven.

Alternatively, the sheet material 46 can be supplied with an adhesivecoating already in place. Such materials are widely available and soldto consumers as shelf lining material, labels and the like. Suchmaterials are available based on a plastic film, a paper film, and alsoon composite films. Any type of adhesive coated film can be selected toprovide a smooth, textured, colored or printed surface as desired. Thesame choices may be made in selecting a film which is not precoated withadhesive.

Obviously, when a film 46 is selected having an adhesive precoating, thecoating of a laminating adhesive onto the scrim material 34 is dispensedwith. However, an adhesive free film can be coated as described aboveand a scrim layer pressed to the coated layer in pinch rollers.

The invention has been described with reference to a preferredembodiment and several variations thereon. Obviously, modifications andalterations will occur to others upon the reading and understanding ofthis specification and it is intended to include such modifications andalterations insofar as to come within the scope of the appended claimsor the equivalents thereof

What is claimed is:
 1. A laminated product comprising: a continuous generally flat vinyl plastic sheet layer; a scrim layer comprising a scrim coated with a foamed polyvinyl chloride plastic; means binding said scrim layer to said flat sheet layer.
 2. The laminated product of claim 1, wherein said binding means is an adhesive.
 3. The laminated product of claim 1, wherein said scrim layer comprises threads having spaces of at least about 0.05 inches between some of said threads and a foam layer surrounding said threads and said scrim layer has some areas of at least 0.05 inches thick.
 4. The laminated product of claim 3, wherein said continuous generally flat sheet layer is about 0.004 inches to 0.008 inches thick.
 5. A laminated product comprising: a continuous generally flat plastic sheet layer precoated with adhesive; a scrim layer comprising a scrim coated by an expanded polymer foam; and said adhesive precoated on said sheet layer binding said scrim layer to said flat sheet layer. 